2001 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 52-55
A 49-year-old male visited the other hospital complaining of dizziness and shortness of breath of 6 months duration. At that hospital, he was considered as having chronic iron deficiency anemia and hypoproteinemia, and was reffered to our hospital on November 2, 2000 for further investigations.
Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy detected numerable polypoid lesions in various shape and size in the whole stomach. Some of them in the gastric body were a tall papillary polyp hanging down from the lesser curvature with a drop of mucus on the top, and they looked like stalactite. Biospy specimens taken from the polypoid lesion was reported as being suggestive of juvenile polyp. There was no abnormality found by X-ray examination of the small bowel and colonoscopy, and therefore, he was diagnosed as having juvenile polyposis localized in the stomach with chronic iron-deficiency anemia and hypoproteinemia. He had total gastrectomy done on December 6, 2000 and pathological diagnosis was juvenile polyposis of the stomach without malignancy. He was discharged from the hospital with Hb of 11.2g/dl and total protein of 6.1 g/dl.
Juvenile polyposis localized in the stomach is a rare condition, and there have been only 17 reports in Japan since 1979. Co-existent adenocarcinoma was reported in 7 out of them. Even if malignant histologial sign cannot be obtained by biopsy, total gastrectomy is advisable in a case of juvenile polyposis of the stomach with complications such as anemia and hypoproteinemia.
